‘Kaeru no Uta’ (Frog’s Song) is a Japanese tune about a little frog and the sound he makes.
Mrs Borthwick teaches us the song and brings in simple percussion. To see how to make your own instruments have a look at our video lesson on making a Guiro, Triangle and Shaker.
You can download the backing tracks to play in your setting or use the video’s on iPads and Smartboards.
Kaeru Videos
MP3 Tracks
Kaeru Backing Track
Karen Vocal Track
Learning Resources
To download files right click on the links and then select either:‘
Save Target As’ (PC)
‘Download Linked File’ (Mac)
You can watch an animated version of song sung in Japanese in this YouTube video.
On our Resource Page you can find songsheets, MP3 tracks and worksheets for all our Blog posts.
For teacher and school staff with access to GLOW more Early Years information and all the files can be downloaded from our YMI Making Music team pages and from our YMI Sharepoint. Use the code wjimn8l to join the team if you are not already a member.
Here are four songs to support numeracy in Early Years settings. You can download them as backing tracks to play in your setting or use the video’s on iPads and Smartboards.
There are three songs counting to Five and one counting to Ten. Whilst singing might not be possible due to current restrictions the songs can still be played and the videos watched to reinforce learning.
Here are two of the videos and the other versions of the song can be viewed on our YMI Borders YouTube Channel Early Years playlist
MP3 Tracks
Backing – Five Little Squirrels
Vocal – Five Little Squirrels
Backing – Ten Little Raindrops
Vocal – Ten Little Raindrops
Learning Resources
To download files right click on the links and then select either:‘
On our Resource Page you can find songsheets, MP3 tracks and worksheets for all our Blog posts.
For teacher and school staff with access to GLOW more Early Years information and all the files can be downloaded from our YMI Making Music team pages and from our YMI Sharepoint. Use the code wjimn8l to join the team if you are not already a member.
Mrs Borthwick has created a lessons exploring Beethoven ‘s 9th symphony to create a track in GarageBand.
This piece was the first ever Choral Symphony, written for symphony orchestra, vocal soloists and choir. Beethoven conducted it’s premiere in Vienna and 1824. The last part of the symphony uses a poem by Friedrich Schiller called Ode to Joy. The message of the poem is that mankind should live in peace and harmony with each other.
Before you go ahead with this project make sure you have looked at the Ode to Joy Project Introduction in the Learning Resources section. You will also need to watch and or listen to the clips that are linked in that file.
There are a series of 10 short videos that lead you though the project. We have added two of them here but the rest are in the our YMI YouTube Channel iPad playlist
Links and Additional Learning
Beethoven the Puppet will tell you a little about his life and work in a short fun video here.
You can hear more about how Beethoven’s music has been used in pop music and film here.
Watch an unusual and exciting performance by a flashmob orchestra. Keep watching as the music starts small and builds into something amazing.
Learning Resources
To download files right click on the links and then select either:‘
In this Museum of Amazing Musical InstrumentsMat the Hat introduces the Udu
And if you’re wanting to do an activity whilst you’re visiting the museum, there’s an accompanying quiz for each minstrument and web links to explore.
The Udo
This is the udu – a musical clay pot. How do you do, udu?
Udu pots originally came from Nigeria, Africa, but today they are made all over the world. The musical clay pot is popular in India, where it’s called a Ghatam.
In the Igbo language of Nigeria the word Udu means a vessel, but I think it’s also like the sound the instrument makes – ooo doo!
This udu is made of clay and has tiny grains of iron embedded in the clay to help improve the sound of the drum. You play it by covering the holes in the side or the top. If you bounce your hand over the hole, you make the ‘oooo’, if you place your hand you make a ‘doooo’.
Udu clay pots are a wonderful example of how something from the home becomes a musical instrument. Before they were made with a hole in the side, udu vessels would be placed under ground to store water or milk in order to keep the contents cool. They could be described as the world’s oldest refrigerator!
The udu is a quieter drum that’s nice to play on your own or with other softer sounding instruments. Some players put water inside the drum, which changes the pitch.
Link
Here are some other videos you can watch to learn more about the Udo, how is is played and made.
In this Museum of Amazing Musical InstrumentsMat the Hat introduces the Yantra.
And if you’re wanting to do an activity whilst you’re visiting the museum, there’s an accompanying quiz for each minstrument and web links to explore.
The yantra is a gentle and melodic drum, and is my musical partner to the Hang drum. The notes ring loud and pure.
The yantra is a tank drum – it is made out of an old propane gas tank. It’s been cut down to this lovely shape, but you can still see the letters underneath. It was made by a man called Jason who lives in Newburgh, Fife, in central Scotland. How do I know that – because I asked him to make this drum especially for me!
The yantra is a really sturdy drum, one that anyone can play with any sort of sticks – it’sindestructible and a great drum to take to a party! I don’t even need a case for it.
Some people call drums like this a tongue drum because the musical notes are made by playing each of these tongues that have been cut into the body. Each of the tongues is tuned to a different note on the scale of F major. The yantra is a tuned drum that I can play with any other instrument, but I especially like to play it with my Hang because the notes are similar. In music, this is because the scales that the two instruments play are related – D minor and F major.
The yantra drum get’s it’s name because yantra is the Sanskrit word for a mystical diagram that is important to members of the Hindu religion. The tongues on the drum look like a picture that you might meditate on. I think it’s rather beautiful!
Links
Here are some other videos you can watch to learn more about the Udo, how is is played and made.
In this second Museum of Amazing Musical InstrumentsMat the Hat introduces the Berimbau.
And if you’re wanting to do an activity whilst you’re visiting the museum, there’s an accompanying quiz for each minstrument and web links to explore.
The Berimbau
The Berimbau is a musical bow from Brazil. Some bows shoot arrows, but this bow shoots musical notes! It produces a unique sound that’s both rhythmic and hypnotic.
You’ll never find a berimbau that’s been made in a factory – all the parts of this minstument either grow naturally, or are recycled. The big bow is made from the wood of the beriba tree and is strung with wire that comes out of a car tyre. The gourd slides over one end – in Brazil this part is called the cabaça.
The berimbau produces three tones – a low note, a high note and a buzz tone. You move the berimbau to and from your tummy to make a wah wah sound that brings the instrument to life.
Berimbau rhythms are called toques. You will usually find a berimbau played for a martial art called capoeira, which is a sport that is very popular in Brazil. The rhythms of the berimbau tell the capoeira players how to play, and everyone sings along.
You hit the berimbau with a stick called a baqueta, which is held with a caxixi in your right hand. Your left hand holds the instrument by balancing it on your little finger, which takes a little while to get used to. Your left hand also holds the dobrão, which is shaped like an old Portuguese coin.
The berimbau travelled to Brazil from Africa in the days of slavery. The African slaves were kept in terrible conditions and weren’t allowed to dance or have any sort of fun, so practicing capoeira and playing the berimbau had to be done in secret. Nowadays capoeira is popular all over the world – it’s a great way to keep fit and play music at the same time.
Pronunciation guide
Berimbau: beh-rim-bow
Capoeira: caa-po-wayra
Toques: toks
Cabaça: kabassa
Caxixi : caa-shi-shi
Dobrão: dobraow (as in a cat’s meeaow)
Link
Here are some other videos you can watch to learn more about the Udo, how is is played and made.
This is the udu – a musical clay pot. How do you do, udu?
Udu pots originally came from Nigeria, Africa, but today they are made all over the world. The musical clay pot is popular in India, where it’s called a Ghatam.
In the Igbo language of Nigeria the word Udu means a vessel, but I think it’s also like the sound the instrument makes – ooo doo!
This udu is made of clay and has tiny grains of iron embedded in the clay to help improve the sound of the drum. You play it by covering the holes in the side or the top. If you bounce your hand over the hole, you make the ‘oooo’, if you place your hand you make a ‘doooo’.
Udu clay pots are a wonderful example of how something from the home becomes a musical instrument. Before they were made with a hole in the side, udu vessels would be placed under ground to store water or milk in order to keep the contents cool. They could be described as the world’s oldest refrigerator!
The udu is a quieter drum that’s nice to play on your own or with other softer sounding instruments. Some players put water inside the drum, which changes the pitch.
Link
Here are some other videos you can watch to learn more about the Udo, how is is played and made.
Mrs Borthwick teaches us three fun tunes from around the world in the lesson called Rainforest Songs. We learn about a tree frog from Japan, the Kaeru. A song from Southern Congo about a tree pineapple in Si Si Si. The last song is called Zum Zum Zum and come from Brazil.
Today’s Song
Now lets sing about a little frog. It is a traditional song about the tree frogs which live in the temperate rainforests of Japan. The words in the last two lines imitate the croaking sound of the frog.
Here are the words. They might look difficult but juts follow along to us as we sing.
You can also have a go at making your own rainforests sounds along with the music track after you have sung the song though twice. You could use your voice, body percussion or some homemade musical instruments to shake, tap, scrape and ting.
Try singing the song with actions to the Backing Track – with Vocal
Try singing the song with actions to the Backing Track which has no voice – just sing it yourself to the track.
Learning Resources
To download files right click on the links and then select either:‘
Today’s Weekly Lesson from Mrs Rowan and Mrs Borthwick teaches us the fun song Honk Honk for P1- P3.
Warm Up
We will start by preparing to sing, with our fun Voice Warm song Sh Sh Sh. Practice these a few times until you know them well and your voice will be ready for singing.
This weeks Song
Now lets sing this weeks action song –Honk Honk. First learn the song you can use the word sheet to help you.
Try singing the song with actions to the Backing Track – with Vocal
Try singing the song with actions to the Backing Track which has no voice – just sing it yourself to the track.
Learning Resources
To download files right click on the links and then select either:‘
Mat the Hat is well know to our schools for his lively and engaging Big Drum Adventure that he has delivered with many of our pupils. Each week Mat has a special feature called the Museum of Amazing Musical Minstruments.
Mat introduces items from his own personal museum, a collection of amazing sounds and unusual ways to create music that he has built up on his travels around the world. So prepare yourself to step into the Museum, to be astounded by the marvelous, magnificent and mysterious musical Minstruments from as far away as Africa, South America and the Himalayas.
And if you’re wanting to do an activity whilst you’re visiting the museum, there’s an accompanying pdf with a quiz for each minstrument and web links to explore.
There are three instruments on out blog pages,
The Udu, a clay pot which makes some amazing sounds.
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